There is an image of this film that has burned itself into my memory. It’s one I cannot mention without spoiling an integral piece of the film, but it’s vital to the movements taken and to the encompassing themes which are to follow. The loss of innocence isn’t anything that hasn’t been explored prior to director Yann Demnage’s film ’71 but it’s a theme he utilizes with such clinical synergy that rather than be impacted by the movie on a scene by scene basis, we’re instead taken away with the momentum and left to dwell on what we’ve seen long after the film has ended.
Accidentally abandoned by his unit in the streets of Belfast after a protest turns violent, a young British soldier is forced to endure a night of being hunted down, uncertain of who he can and cannot trust. Set in Northern Ireland during a time of national unrest, the stakes are high as he becomes the target of all sides of the equation.
It may be redundant to say at this point but it would seem that Jack O’Connell is on his way to being some sort of superstar, whether it be simply to critics or to the world at large. With this, Unbroken, and Starred Up all being released in the last ten months, would seem that I keep repeating myself when I say that O’Connell is giving riveting and tour de force performances. He’s almost frustratingly good at this; he’s deeply aware of his physicality and how to move either like a soldier, a prisoner of war, or a feral caged animal. He seems highly capable while also giving us a character who we’re continuously worried about through the films run, never forgetting how young he is. ’71 is a movie where the narratives move at a quick pace and despite the deft skill in which the script was written it’s easy to get swept up in the madness surrounding him. O’Connell anchors the film; with the over the soldier style of filmmaking we’re equally detached from his emotional standpoint while also being thrust into the action head on. His performance is monumental and if he continues to deliver aching and compelling performances to this quality level, he’ll likely be considered one of the most talented young actors out there today.
While the film benefits greatly from having such a reliable performer, it doesn’t live and breathe by his performance, which only speaks to the intensity of the filmmaking on hand. From the get-go we’re running. The soldiers are running through training drills as we first meet our protagonist and it’s not long after that he’s running through the streets, fearful of his life and we never quite drop the slightly out of break, stitch in your side type of pace. Written by Gregory Burke the narrative adopts a relentless motive. The protagonist isn’t able to sit still and think for very long so neither are we. We’re thrown into one situation after the other and it’s up to us to keep up. It’s always refreshing when a script is written with the belief that the audience will be intelligent enough to follow along.
Surely, there were certain moments that caught me off guard and that had me combing the internet later to learn more about the antagonistic discord happening in Ireland at that time, and the violence surged. It’s a history lesson in part dressed up as an action film with an emotional core-that’s some impressive writing.
Beyond the action, the violence that is shockingly real, the chess game partaken by different members in political stations and the drama that ensues, this is a film about the young and the innocent and their bloodied, broken bodies being tripped over to get to the finish line first.This isn’t a fun action film but a perilous one and one where the victims are unanimously young. It seems then men in positions of power have always used the innocent to do their dirty work or to fall in a douse of flames in the name of a cause and ’71 shows us that whether you make it out alive or not there will always be those you left behind and those who you were unable to save.
’71 is a fantastic feat in filmmaking. Often using a more guerrilla style of directing Demnage is either putting us up close and personal with our subjects or stationing us from a distance. Similarly to the over the soldier point of view, this allows us a removed connection while also allowing us to take in all of the carnage and mayhem that takes place, searing it into our minds more fully.
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This is a breakthrough film for all involved and once that I certainly will be remembering, that one dire and haunting image of boy soldiers in particular, for a long time.
9.5/10
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